Episode 3 - Killing Space

Niall Ferguson shows us how the Axis powers (Germany and Japan) expanded rapidly in the late 1930s and early years of the Second World War, so that by 1941 no-one could have imagined them losing the war. Using incredible violence and complete disregard for any peoples they regarded as racially inferior, both nation-states seized foreign land in the search for more 'Living Space'. As Niall shows us in this programme, what was planned as living space soon became 'killing space'.

We hear about the Japanese involvement in China – in particular, 'The Rape of Nanjing', a brutal atrocity against the Chinese people. At Nanjing, the Japanese murdered the 260,000 inhabitants indiscriminately – men, women and children – some beheaded and some buried alive. Viewing the Chinese as subhuman, the Japanese even boasted of their actions in newspapers.

In Germany, Russia and Japan at this time, there was a biological basis to violence, with some people being seen as vermin to be exterminated. The killing of civilians was legitimised, and humiliation was seen as almost as important as killing. Rape was a major weapon of war, with between 8,000 and 20,000 sexual assaults on women at Nanjing alone.

In Germany, Hitler's dream was of a European empire, and he planned to achieve this by clearing away racial inferiors and political opponents to make space for resettled 'true' Germans. He planned to redraw the racial map of Europe completely. Poland became the first colonial country of the Reich, and Niall shows us how towns were cleared of Jews and other Poles who questioned the Nazi regime. The plan was then to repopulate these towns with Germans, and they even employed women to kidnap blonde, blue-eyed Polish children to be 'Germanised' and resettled with German families.

Germany and Russia collaborated at the beginning of the war in order to carve up Poland between them, and on both sides a reign of terror led to the mass murder of Jews and political opponents. Between February and June 1940, over a million Poles were transported to labour camps in Russia. Hitler had always hated the Russians and communists and, unknown to Stalin, he had already planned an attack on Russia, code-named 'Operation Barberosa'. The resulting battle was a bloodbath that killed millions.

Niall asks us to consider how ordinary soldiers, police officers and civilians were able to take part in unbelievably violent killings, often against people they knew. He examines the fact that many people collaborated with the enemy in the hope of better treatment.

PROGRAMME OUTLINE

00.00 – 02.54

Niall Ferguson summarises the advances made by Germany and Japan in the first few years of the Second World War.

02.55 – 07.39

Using the 'Rape of Nanjing' as an example, we look at the appalling atrocities carried out by the Japanese in China.

07.40 – 11.03

Niall looks at the 20th-century phenomenon of a biological basis to violence, and describes the outcome at Nanjing.

11.04 – 18.16

We learn of the German's plan to take 'Living Space' from other countries and repopulate these areas with 'true' Germans.

18.17 – 22.19

In Krakow, Poland, Niall shows us the fate of thousands of Poles and Jews.

22.20 – 26.33

Niall visits The Rotunda – an old fortification in Krakow, used to hold and then execute people, in order to clear the town for Germans.

26.34 – 31.15

We see how Germany and the Soviet Union worked together to carve up Poland for their two empires, and learn of the treatment of Polish people by the Soviets.

31.16 – 33.19

Niall visits Obersalzburg, Germany, where Hitler and his team met and where they planned Operation Barberosa – a military operation against Russia.

33.20 – 34.42

At Oxford, even ordinary academics knew what Hitler was planning to do to the Soviets.

34.43 – 38.56

A description of the onset of Operation Barberosa.

38.57 – 41.59

We hear about Hitler's 'Final Solution' against the Jews.

42.00 – 45.13

Niall asks how ordinary Germans were able to execute Jews or at least collaborate with this policy.

45.14 – 46.38

We are given other examples of oppressed people's collaboration with their oppressors.